So, I read an article about how muscle hybrids are a sham and shouldn’t be made, and on and on. (Oh, for anyone who does know, muscle hybrids are cars that the electric (hybrid) motor is only used to supplement the power of the gas motor, so the fuel efficiency gains aren’t that great.) I think that is BS. People aren’t going to stop driving F350s and Hummers, or Magnums and Vettes, cause the Sierra Club tells them the Prius or a VW Rabbit can get them were they want to go too. If more muscle hybrids are made then massive gas swilling V8s and V6s can be replaced with inline 4s that can get 25 mpg instead of 10 mpg, and that is a huge improvement.
Here is why:
Most the power in your 350 HP engine is there to get the car’s incredible mass off the line, then once you are going 60 mph you only need 10-20 HP to keep it going. So, if you put a high torque electric motor in the car (SUV, truck, etc) to help get it rolling then suddenly a 350 HP V8 is overkill and 170-200 HP 4 banger is plenty. (You still need a lot of HP to climb hills and pull loads, since current gas motors don’t produce a lot of torque, the transmission exchanges RPM for torque in low gears.) Then people are happy with their vehicle cause it still hauls ass, they are happy with the gas savings, and don’t kid yourself a lot of gas is saved. Plus the Prius (which I have driven and it is a cool car) driving environmentalists get to enjoy the cost reductions that come with economy of scale, since the cost of hybrid parts will drop as more hybrids are made, and the technology will improve faster since demand=research $ (and I mean real, sells millions of cars and trucks a year demand, and not the demands of a hundred people who march in front of GMs headquarters’ demanding change.)
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